Report 1166
Report #1166 Skillset: Phantasms Skill: Phantomsphere Org: Pyromancers Status: Completed May 2013 Furies' Decision: Solution 3. Problem: The innate spammability of the requirements to land a Phantomsphere kill lends itself to the belief and practice of continuously trying again until the mage is eventually successful. 0 R: 0 Solution #1: Add a 2p cost to the creation of a phantomsphere - this would make it require a total of 8p to land the instakill. 0 R: 0 Solution #2: Enable phantomspheres to be dispelled or critiqued off of the afflicted victim - for an illusion-based affliction, it is currently uncurable by either, unlike HypnoticPattern and Phantom. 0 R: 0 Solution #3: Raise the required total to proc the instakill from 4 to 8, scaling the damage of phantomsphere detonate accordingly so as to spread the time out for victims to successfully run or more firmly hinder the mage's ability to continue the attack. Player Comments: ---on 5/12 @ 18:17 writes: I like solution 3 because it keeps it in its designed state, while being less "you have to run at 2 spheres every time". You'd still have to run at 4 or 6, but it's less of a spammable act that you use to say "Hey, I don't want to fight, here are some spheres so please run away now." ---on 5/15 @ 00:15 writes: Solution 1 or 2 would be great, with 1 prefered. Solution 3 would make the kill more awkward (which has always been presented as it's major weakness) and not solve the problem. ---on 5/16 @ 01:03 writes: Solution 2 + 3 ---on 5/16 @ 01:32 writes: I've never been presented with a convincing reason why this ability doesn't have a power cost. Solution 1 supported. Solution 2 is fine as well, but not on its own as I don't think an 8 power skill is a reasonable trade-off for one that costs no power and is admitted to be spammable. Solution 3 would help things but it ultimately wouldn't fix the core problem. ---on 5/16 @ 21:17 writes: I'm more inclined to Solution 2, possibly solution 3, no to Solution 1. Unlike all other insta-kills, phantomspheres require the mage to not be present with the target. So once the mage has left the room, there is nothing actively hindering the target from simply walking out or even following after the mage. While Pyros/Geos/Aeros at least have room effects that can hinder/effectively slow an opponent from moving out of the room, it doesn't take too long to move one extra room over, outside of the range of effects(sans possibly rubble), and there's no way to know if an opponent has moved from their room, so the mage is required to track them down, then either move to them to unite a sphere to them, or spend time to move the sphere to the target, while not being able to hinder the targets movement. I'd honestly far prefer Phantasms be given a new insta- kill that's more suited to the fear aspect of the skillset, but that'd require reworking a number of the skills to support it. Adding a power cost will just make the skill impossible and a waste to attempt due to the inability to really hinder an opponent from simply running out and you losing the power you just spent on making the spheres. ---on 5/20 @ 18:46 writes: Solution 1, spheres should have a power cost, there are situations where you can lock someone in a demesne while not being present in the room, and you literally have no defense against it. Even a 1p powercost would stop these situations. ---on 5/23 @ 13:59 writes: I agree with Sidd. If 2 power feels like too much, even 1 power is agreeable. The key here is to stop its spammability. In a group fight, it's very easy for the mage to remain mobile while people pin the person down. In a 1v1 situation, it encourages the scenario where someone is constantly chasing the mage, who is resetting combat by fleeing and 'sphering. That's the key problem people have with this kill method. ---on 5/24 @ 17:07 writes: I like solutions 1 and 3. Solution 2 should be put in as well but I do not think it would be enough to solve the problem on it's own. ---on 5/28 @ 04:33 writes: Since this report is about the instakill, it would make more sense to add the power cost to the PHANTOMSPHERE ATTACK syntax, rather than to the summoning, to leave shatter and detonate unchanged. ---on 5/28 @ 05:38 writes: I have no problems with attaching the 2p cost of the first solution to the attack syntax rather than the cast syntax.